This invention relates to a reel-to-reel microfilm recorder system which may be operated automatically under control of a computer or other control device.
There are a variety of computer-controlled microfilm recorder systems, commonly called computer-output microfilm recorders (COM). Such systems are used for storing vast amounts of data, either alphanumeric, graphic, or both on film. The most common type system utilizes rolls of microfilm which, after the film is exposed and developed, are cut into sheets called microfiche.
A few microfilm recorder systems have been developed which, rather than using rolls of microfilm, copy data onto single, pre-cut sheets of microfilm. The individual sheets are held in cartridges which are loaded into the system prior to exposure of the sheets. After exposure, the cartridges are removed from the system for developing the microfilm sheets.
The currently available microfilm recorder systems, whether of the type which use rolls of microfilm or of the type which use single, pre-cut film sheets, are generally complicated and costly in design and constuction, cumbersome and somewhat time consuming to initialize and use, and relatively difficult to load, unload and service.